KARACHI: Legal Aid Office and Legal Aid Society Chairman Justice (r) Nasir Aslam Zahid has said that the court-annexed Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) has become need of the day in the backdrop of high number of pendency of cases and overall caseload burden facing the judiciary at all levels in Pakistan.

He was speaking to the representatives of the Malir Bar Association here on Thursday.

“Currently, over 1.8 million cases are pending before the superior and subordinate judiciary of Pakistan; with the bulk of over 93,000 cases being the pendency in the province of Sindh” he said.

The session was organized by Legal Aid Society in collaboration with Malir Bar Association on the need and usage of court-annexed Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms with a focus on court annexed mediation.

Justice (r) Nasir Aslam Zahid further said, “Judges are overburdened, which leads to the in-expeditious dispensation of justice. In principle, a judge may make regular hearings of maximum four cases in a day. Thus more judges need to induct at all levels in the judiciary.” However, he stressed the need to create a reasonable balance between the population and available number of judges.

In the backdrop of overburdened courts, Justice (r) Nasir Aslam Zahid strongly recommended effective utilization of Small Claims and Minor Offences Courts Ordinance, 2002 and subsequent Salis mechanism. He said that the Sindh High Court had notified 270 Salis Committee members in 2015. “The law governs the cases of claims of less than Rs 100,000 and offences, which have a prescribed maximum penalty of less than three years.”

“Unfortunately, this mechanism of ADR provided in SCMO-2002 remains unutilised in Sindh”, he remarked. He appealed to the legal fraternity to own the mechanism so that people could be provided expeditious justice and trend of increasing burden on the courts could be reduced.”

He also highlighted the role of lawyers in the effective and efficient utilisation of ADR mechanism. “Unless legal fraternity that is one the most significant pillars of justice system owns the ADR mechanism, it cannot prove successful,” he said.

“Efforts taken by LAS regarding usage of ADR mechanisms are also in line with National Judicial Policy, which asks earnest application of the Small Claims and Minor Offences Courts Ordinance 2002”, he added.

While narrating the purpose of ADR programme of LAS, he said: “We simply mean to save parties from heavy expenses being incurred during frequent court appearances to help them reach at negotiated settlement. This will also help already overburden judges in the way that the less there are overburdened, the better they can dispense quality justice to litigants.”

“Even though ADR excludes litigation, lawyers have same role in the cases proceeded under ADR mechanisms,” he clarified, and pledged an amount of Rs 100,000 to the Malir Bar Association for the extension of its library services.

Omar Bashir Maniar, a consultant with LAS, provided a brief about existing ADR mechanisms in the legal regime of Pakistan. He said that major ADR mechanisms in Pakistan were grounded mainly in six laws, which include the Arbitration Act 1940; Small Claims and Minor Offenses Ordinance 2002; Muslim Family Law Ordinance 1961; The Family Court Act 1964, Offices of Ombudsman and; Section 89(A) of CPC and Section 345 of CrPC.

In his remarks, Omat Maniar said that there were various misconceptions associated with ADR, especially in the light of traditional forms of ADR which work at the cost of human rights of marginalised sections, especially women rights. “However, what LAS supports remains court-annexed ADR mechanism.”

While discussing benefits of court-annexed ADR, Omar Bashir said that ADR mechanism would be cost-effective in addition to bringing swift solutions to the legal matters.

Malir Bar Association President Sharafudin Jamali appreciated efforts of LAS in creating discourse on ADR. He said that lawyers were also of view that small claims and minor offences should be resolved by ADR mechanisms rather than through protracted trial in the courts. He also endorsed LAS position and ADR.

Nasir Raza Rind, general secretary, Malir Bar Association extended vote of thanks and ensured their complete support to LAS in its efforts to create usage of ADR mechanisms in Sindh.